The Gothic Game - What's Changed?

28 Feb

Differences between Damnation: The Gothic Game and the 1992 original The Gothic Game

I know there are a lot of people out there who played the original The Gothic Game who will be keen to know what changes have been made for Damnation: The Gothic Game. I will run through the changes here as well as giving the thought process behind each one.

Before going into the individual changes, I wanted to write a little about the general approach we’ve taken to updating this classic game. First and foremost, it was vital that we remain true to the spirit of the original Gothic Game. We did however identify four areas that we wanted to improve:

Speed up the game
Give players more options
Increase the game’s replayability
Develop the gothic horror theme

Without further ado, let’s get on to main changes that we’ve made:

Deathknell Cards

One of the first changes we made to the game was the development of the Deathknell deck. At the beginning of the game, five of these oversized cards are randomly placed face down on the board. Whenever a player is eliminated, that person chooses one to reveal. Each card introduces a deadly new rule to the game that makes the castle even more dangerous than before. Once all 5 are in play, it’s carnage out there!

The idea behind this change is that as each player is eliminated, the time it takes for the next player to be knocked out should reduce exponentially. The five cards that are drawn, and the order in which they are revealed, have a dramatic effect on how the game plays out, rewarding players that adapt to the current cards in play.

Heirlooms

We wanted to get players up and running as quickly as possible at the beginning of the game, which is where the Heirloom deck comes in. During setup, each player will draw three cards from this deck, which will act as their starting hand. These cards will give each player some ideas and options right from the very start of the game.

There are twenty four unique cards in the Heirloom deck, meaning that the cards each player draws will vary from game to game. This, coupled with the variety the Deathknell cards bring, help to ensure that no two games will play out in the same way.

Movement

We tested lots of different movement systems for this game but we decided to stick with the roll to move from the original. In addition to the speed of using dice, we like the idea of the darkness in the castle being treacherous, to the extent that players can’t be certain of how far they will be able to move on their turn. Having said that, we didn’t want to leave movement entirely to chance, so we have added in a number of different ways to mitigate against bad rolls. The decision of when to utilise this mitigation is a key consideration for players as they move around The Castle.

We’ve also developed a custom die called the ‘darkness die’ to make things a little more interesting. This die features four different faces (the remaining two are blank) and is rolled along with the player’s movement die. Depending on the face that is rolled, a different effect will occur:

Candle Light (there are two of these on the die)

Rolling this symbol indicates the location the player is in is well lit, giving them more control over how far they can move. The player may add or remove 1 from their movement total this turn.

Darkness

The player has entered an area that’s pitch black. Ordinarily a player must end their movement on a trap in order to trigger it. However, if they roll ‘Darkness’ they must trigger the first trap that they pass this turn.

Castle Event

An event occurs! If a player rolls the Castle Event face, they must draw a card from the Castle Deck (see below) before they move.

As mentioned above, Castle cards are drawn when a player rolls the Castle Event symbol. These gave us a chance to be creative in terms of what players encounter during their movement. For example, Dread Shadow forces a player to enter a room that turn if they are able, while Underground Tunnel allows a player to ignore their movement roll and jump to an empty secret door space at the cost of losing health.

The Vampire

Playing as The Vampire in the original game can be a little dull, especially if you’re unlucky with your movement rolls. For this version we wanted to make this character far more interesting, and we’ve done that in a few different ways.

First of all, we have created a deck of Vampire cards. When a player becomes The Vampire, they draw three cards from this deck, which gives them access to a range of dark powers. For example, we have Bat form, which allows The Vampire to double their movement, but leaves them unable to ‘bite’ a player that turn. Then there’s Mind Control, which allows The Vampire to view another player’s hand of cards at the expense of only rolling 1 die to move that turn.

In addition to this deck of cards, we’ve also added some situational cards throughout the game that directly affect The Vampire. For example, the Blood Moon Deathknell card allows The Vampire to roll an additional D6 for movement, making him even deadlier. Meanwhile, Fog, which is a card found in The Cemetery, allows The Vampire to enter that room until that player’s next turn.

We’ve also created a deck of cards for The Vault, which players are free to explore while The Vampire is active. This room is generally filled with powerful cards, and creates a risk / reward situation for players.

Of course, the challenge here is balancing The Vampire so that he isn’t massively overpowered. We feel like we’ve hit the sweet spot with this character and as a result, The Vampire is now a lot more fun to play.

The Dark Tower

We wanted to reward players that approach the game aggressively. This is where our new room, The Dark Tower, comes in.

The first thing to explain is the Souls mechanic that we’ve introduced. Each player begins the game with a Soul token. When a player is eliminated, their Soul token is passed to the player that eliminated them. If no player was responsible, their Soul token is placed in The Cemetery, where it can be collected by the next player to enter that particular room.

Ok, back to The Dark Tower. The room itself is situated to the far side of the board and is the most difficult, dangerous location to enter. The corridor leading up to the room is filled with traps, and visiting players will find themselves vulnerable to new vampires. You also need to spend a Soul token (that isn’t your own) to enter. If you manage all of the above, then you can draw two cards from The Dark Tower deck and choose one to keep. The cards found in The Dark Tower are the most powerful in the game and will give that player a distinct advantage.

Traps

In the original, there are only a couple of types of traps – the dreaded Oubliette, which results in instant death, and ‘Crumbling Masonry,’ which sends the unfortunate player to The Moat. These are all in fixed locations.

For Damnation: The Gothic Game, we’ve retained fixed trap locations on the board, but these are purely markers where double sided trap tokens are randomly placed at the beginning of each game. The front side is a generic trap symbol. If a player triggers a trap they must then flip the trap token to reveal the type of trap that’s been triggered. We now have:

Trapdoor

This works in the same way as Crumbling Masonry from the original Gothic Game, and sends a player to The Moat.

Oubliette

More dangerous than ever given it can appear on any trap location – it still results in instant death.

Pendulum

This trap will remove half the player’s remaining health, rounded down.

Beartrap

Players who trigger this must halve their movement on their following turn (rounded up) and suffer 2 damage.

Secret Door

Triggering this trap will comes as a pleasant surprise, because it acts as a harmless Secret Door for the rest of the game.

Hiding these traps increases the sense of dread when one is triggered, which is very much in-keeping with the theme game.

Villains

In Damnation: The Gothic Game, players play as one of six different villains. Each one is based on a figure from gothic Victorian-era history or literature, and has access to four distinct ‘Talents.’ Of these Talents, two are unique, while the other two are available to every Villain. The first of each Villain’s Talents is passive, while the other three require a ‘Fate’ token to activate. Choosing when and where to use these Talents is a big decision for each player and can be the difference between life and death. To give an example, we have The Stranger, a pretty flexible chap who is well suited to aggressive play. His Talents are:

Bloodthirsty (Passive)

If you eliminate another player, you may take another turn after this one.

Strange Ways

Ignore your movement roll and move directly to an empty Secret Door space.

Fate

Reroll any number of dice you’ve rolled.

Run for It!

Roll D6 and add it to your movement for this turn.

The introduction of these villains allows us to develop the theme of the game that little bit more, as well as giving players more choices during the game.

Game variants

We have developed a variety of different play modes that will help Damnation: The Gothic Game appeal to a wider audience. These modes remain a work in progress, but at present we have:

Standard

This is the standard set of rules for the game.

Haunt

This follows the standard rules, with the exception that when a player is eliminated they become a ‘Wraith’ with the ability to affect the game in various - needless to say, evil - ways. This is perfect for groups that don’t enjoy player elimination.

Symphony of Blood

This follows the standard rules and works with or without Haunt mode. This mode splits the game into three separate acts, each of which introduces new thematic rules to proceedings that results in a quicker game.

Two Player

The two player variant introduces new rules that sees two players controlling multiple characters.

We are currently involved in playtesting these different variants and will provide more detail in our next design diary.

I think that’s enough for now! We have made other changes but these are relatively minor and something we’ll look to cover in more detail at some point in the future. Before signing off, I’d like to reiterate that all of the above is still being tested. While we’re very happy with how the game is currently playing, nothing is set in stone. If anyone has any questions or feedback, I’d love to hear from you.

Kris

Kris Rees https://www.reactmedia.co.uk